Tent



April 12, 1960 .1.E. voEGE ETAL 2,932,304

TENT

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 26, 1956 April 12, 1960 1 E, VOEGE ETAL2,932,304

TNENT Filed Nov. 26, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 12, 1960 J, E, VQEGEETAL 2,932,304

TENT

Filed Nov. 26, 1956 :s sheets-'sheet :s

TENT

James E. Voege, Alton, Ill., and Charles W. Baum, St. Louis County, andCharles L. Stockstrom, Creve Coeur, Mo., assignors to Bemis Bro. BagCompany, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application November26, 1956, Serial No. 624,328

' z claims. (ci. 13sn This invention relates to tents, and moreparticularly to a low-cost expendable tent, for military orotherrpurposes.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision ofa tent of the class described which is of light weight for its size (forexample, a tent providing iioor space of approximately two hundredsquare feet and a height of approximately eight feet six inches,sufficient for three men to don and dolf clothing simultaneously whilestanding, weighs less than twenty pounds); the provision of a` tent ofthis class which is simple to erect and capable of withstanding gusts ofwind up to forty miles per hour; the provision of a tent of this classwhich is so shaped that visibility of the tent in a horizontal planefrom any angle is minimized, as is important for camouiiage; theprovision of a tent of this class which has insulating Value so that itis capable of maintaining a reasonably comfortable inside temperature(40 F., for example) when the outside temperature is very low (-65 F.,for' example) with winds of forty miles per hour when conventionalVheating devices are utilized in the tent; the provision of a tent ofthis class which has positive closures providing protection from entryof wind, drifting snow and moisture; the provision ofv a tent of thisclass which has means for ventilation other than doorways andfor use ofstandard heating devices; the provision of a tent of this classwhichprovides reasonable protection from insects; and the provision of atent of this class which Vhas entrance closures which can `be easilyloperated either from the inside or outside, which has two doorways, andwhich is of such 4United States atent D construction as to allow for aseries oftents to be astened together in tandem with access from onetent to another. Other objects and features will be in partv apparentand in part pointed out hereinafter. v l The invention accordinglycomprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of theinvention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possibleembodiments of the invention are illustratedj Fig. 1 is a plan view or"a tent of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the tent;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the tent as viewed from the right of Fig.1; p

Fig. 4 is a fragment of Fig. 2 illustrating certain door panels in openposition, certain screen panels being shown in closed position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the screen panels in openposition;

Fig. 6 is a greatly enlarged vertical section taken on line 6-6 of Fig.1, with parts broken away;

Fig. 7 is a greatly enlarged vertical section taken on line 7-7 of Fig.1;

Fig. 8 is a plan View showing two of the Fig. 1 tents assembled togetherin tandem;

Fig. 9 is a greatly enlarged fragment of Fig. 2, with parts (includingtie tapes) broken away; Y

Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a vertical section taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 8;-

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a modiication; and,

Figs. 13-15 are enlarged cross sections of three dilerent materials fromwhich a tent of this invention may be made.

Corresponding reference character indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to Figs. 1-3 of the drawings, a tent T constructed inaccordance with this invention is shown to be of the center-pole type.As erected, it is of hexagonal shape in plan, having six substantiallyvertical walls 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 and a pyramidal roof 13. Walls 1 and7 are parallel to one another, and are referred to as front and backwalls. Walls 3 and 5 are angled to form a triangular bay at one end ofthe tent; walls 9 and 11 are angled to form a triangular bay at theother end of the tent. Walls 3, 5, 9 and 11 are identical, walls 3 and 9being parallelV and walls 5 and 11 being parallel. As shown herein, thelength of the front and back walls 1 and 7 (these walls being identical)corresponds approximately to the front-to-back dimension of the tent,and walls 1 and 7 are longer than each of walls 3, 5, 9 and 11.

Each of the front and back walls comprises two wall panels 15 onopposite sides of a rectangular center access section 17. The topmargins 19 of the panels 15 are angled downward toward the outer ends ofthe front and back walls. Each of the end walls 3, 5, 9 and 11 comprisesa rectangular panel having a height corresponding to the height of theouter end edges of the panels '15 of the front and back walls. Thepyramidal roof 13 comprises two triangular panels each designated 21centered at the apex of the roof and having outer margins 23 coincidentwith the top of the access section 17, four triangular panels eachdesignated 25 centered at the apex of the roof and having outer margins27 coincident with the angled top margins 19 of the respective panels 15of the front and back walls, and four triangular panels each designated29 centered at the apex of the roof and having outer margins 31coincident with the top margins of the respective end walls 3, 5, 9 and11 At the apex of the roof is a center hole 33 (see Fig.' 6) forreceiving a pin 35 on the upper end of a pole 37. An apertured roofcenter reinforcement is indicated at 39. The pole 37 is shown as being asectional type of pole, consisting of a lower section 41, anintermediate section 43 and an upper section 45. Each of these sectionscornprises a fibre (compressed paper) tube. The lower end of thelowertube 41 is impregnated with a waterproofing material indicated at47 such as wax or creosote. Glued in and projecting from the upper endof each of the lower and intermediate sections 41 and 43 is a shortlength of fibre tube 49. The intermediate section 43 is telescoped atits lower end on the tube 49 of the lower section 41. The upper section45 is telescoped at its lower end on the tube 49 of the intermediatesection 43. Glued in the upper end of the upper section is a wood plug51. The pin 35 is constituted by a hardwood dowel glued in a center holein the plug 51.

Referring to Figs. 2, 9 and 10, the central section 17 of each of thefront and back Walls is shown to be provided with two rectangular doorpanels 53. These door panels are seamed at 55 along their outer verticalmargins to the inner Vertical margins of the wall panels 15 and seamedat 57 along their top margins to the outer margins 23 of the roof panels21. Each door panel has a width corresponding to half the Width 0f thecentral section 17,

and the inner vertical meeting edges of the door panels are providedwith slide fastener elements 59 and 61 and a slide 63 for securing themtogether to hold the door panels closed.Y It is preferred that the slidefastener elements be plastic elements of a type such as shown in U.S.Patent 27,613,421. The slide 63 has two large pull tabs 65 and 67, oneon the outside and the other on the inside Vfor, easy operationfromeither the outside or inside of the tent. By pulling the slide up to thetop of the door panels as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 9 Vand l0,Athey are released one from the other so that they may be folded backfrom the closed position in which they Vare shown in Figs. 2 and 9 tothe open position shown in Fig. 4 and secured in open position as by tietapes 69 and 71, one on the door panel and the other on the outside ofthe tent wall.

The panels 15 of the front and back walls 1 and 7, the walls 3, 5, 9 and11, the roof panels 21, 25 and 27, and the door panels 53 may be made ofa special reinforced laminated material such as shown in Fig. 13comprising an inner ply 73 of'a nonwoven fabric having heat insulatingproperties, an intermediate ply 75 of openmesh fabric, and an outer ply77 of Vsheet plastic. Or it may be made of a material such Vas shown inFig. 14 similar to that of Fig. 13 with the addition of a ply ofnonwoven fabric 79 between the outer plastic ply 77 and the open-meshfabric ply 75. Or it maybe made of a material such as shown in Fig. lcomprising an inner ply 81 of sheet plastic which is metalized to haveheat insulation properties, an intermediate ply 33 of openmesh fabric,and an outer ply 85 of clear Sheet plastic.

The nonwoven fabric 73 is preferably a fabric comprising a randomdistribution of nylon and rayon libers in a synthetic latex binder suchas is sold by Wellington Sears Company of New York, N.Y. under the nameLantuck. In the three-ply material shown in Fig. 13, the nonwoven fabricused at 73 may be one having an average weight of about 3.00 oz. persquare yard. In the case of the four-ply material shown in Fig. 14, thenonwoven fabric used for layers 73 may be one having an average weightof about 2.25 oz. per square yard. The open-mesh fabric may be the samefor each of the materials shown in Figs. 13-15, namely, a leno-weavefabric woven of natural color paper yarns, having a one-half inch byone-half inch mesh, and a weight of ninety-four pounds per thousandyards. The plastic layer 77 in Fig. 13 may be 2-mil polyethylene, and inFig. 14 may be .0015 mil polyethylene. rl`he plastic layer 81 in Fig.15y is preferably .0015 mil aluminized polyethylene tereph-k thalatesold by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. of Wilmington, Del., under thename Mylar, and the plastic layer 85 is preferably .0015 mil Mylar. Ineach case the laminant may be an emulsion type adhesive, such aspolyvinyl emulsion, or any other suitable adhesive.

The triangular roof panels aresecured together along their side marginsby at sewn seams (double-stitched seams, forexarnple) such as indicatedat 87 in Fig. 6, wherethere is shown a seam 87 for a roof panel 25 and aroof panel 27. The front and back wall panels 15 are secured to the endwalls 3, 5, 9 and 11, and endwalls 3, 5, and 9, 11 are secured togetherby hat sewn seams (doublestitched seams, for example) such as indicatedat 89 in Fig. 6, where there is shown a seam 89 for the left panel 15 ofthe front wall and end wall 3. The seams 87 and 89 (also seams 55) aredirected inward. The seams 89 joining the panels 15 to the end walls 3,5, 9 and 11, the seams 55 joining panels 15 to the door panels 53, andthe seams 89 joining end walls 3, 5, 9 and 11 terminate somewhat shortof the lower edges of these panels and end walls so that each of thesepanels and the end walls has a bottom flap such as indicated at 91 whichmay be utilized as a sod cloth. The roof panels are secured at theirouter margins to the upper edges of the panels 15, the end walls 3, 5, 9and 11 and the door panels 53 by flat sewn seams (double-stitched seams,for example) Lsuchas indicated Iat 93 in Fig. 6, where there is shown aseam 93 for a roof panel 25 and a panel 15. The seams 93 are directedoutward and form an overhang all around the tent. A guy rope loop 95 issewn to the seams 93 in line with each of the root` panel seams 87, asshown best in Fig. 6, with the sides of the loop on opposite sides ofthe seams 93. The loops 95 may consist of strips of the same material asthe tent walls, roof and doors.

In addition to the door panels 53, the central section 17 of each of thefront and back walls is provided, on the inside of the door panels, withscreen panels 97. These are seamed at 55 along with the door panels tothe wall panels 15, and have their top margins caught in the seam 57between the roof panel 21 and the door panels (see Fig. l0). Each screenpanel, which may consist of nylon net, has a width corresponding to halfthe width of the doorway, and the inner vertical meeting edges of thescreen panels, like the door panels, are provided with slide fastenerelements 99 and 101 and a slide 103 having two large pull tabs and 107,one on the inside and the other on the outside. By pulling the slide forthe screen panels up to the top thereof, they are released from oneanother and may be folded over on the outside ofthe doorl panels asshown in Fig. 5, and tied open by -tie tapes 109.

One of the roof panels (specifically one of Vthe panels 29) is shown ashaving a hole 111 therein. On the inside of the roof panel is stitched apanel 113 of glass fibre, or other suitable heat-resistant material,having an opening 115 sized to fit a stove pipe and smaller than thehole 111 so that the stove pipe does not contact the tent material. Forcovering the hole 111 there is provided a flap 117, which may be made ofthe same material as the tent, stitched as indicated at 119 on theoutside of the roof. A strap 121 may be provided for hold ing the flap117 folded back away from the stove pipe. Holes 111 and 115 may also beused for ventilation, instead of for a stove pipe.

The tent T is easily Verected simply by setting it up on the center pole37, then pulling taut guy ropes R fastened to loops 95 and securing theropes to stakes S in such manner that the ropes are substantiallyaligned with the respective roof panel seams 87 and at an angle to theground corresponding substantially to the pitch of the respective seams87. This stretches seams 87 and also seams 57 and 93 taut so that theroof and walls are held up in erected position. The roof seams 87, ineffect, act as roof supports in extension of the guy ropes to the centerpole, and the seams 57 and 93, in effect, act as supports for the tentwalls between adjacent guy ropes. No Apoles are necessary at the cornersof the tent where walls 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 meet. As erected, the tentis of hexagonal shape, which minimizes visibility ofthe tent in ahorizontal plane from any angle.

As shown in Figs. 8 and `11, two tents T may be erected and joinedtogether in tandem, with Wall 7 of one tent against wall 1 of the othertent. In this case the tie rope loops along the abutting walls 7 and 1are tied together. Access from one tent to the other is via the doorwaysin the abutting walls 7 and 1.

Fig. 12 illustrates an alternate type of door for'the central section17, consisting of a single ldoor panel 123 having a width correspondingto the width of the central section. The panel 123 is seamed along itstop margin to the outer margin 23 of roof panel 21. At both side edgesthereof are slide fasteners 125 for securing the panel at its sides tothe inner vertical margins ofthe wall panels 15. Both slide fasteners125 may be released and the panel rolled up for a complete opening ofsection 17; or one slide fastener may be released and the door panelfolded in half on a diagonal such as indicated at 127 for a smallerdoorway opening. Suitable tie tapes (not shown) may be provided forholding the door panel rolled up or folded back and for fasteningtogether the y section 17 of two tandem tents.

In view of theabove, it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and` other acl--v vantageous results attained. f

As various changes couldbe made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scopeV ofthe invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdraw-4 ingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

We claim: Y 1. A center-pole tent having substantially vertical frontAandV back walls, each of said front and back walls havwhich anglesdownward away from the respective central rectangular access sectiontoward one end of the respective wall, each of said second verticalpanels having a. top margin which angles downward away from therespective central rectangular access section toward the other end ofthe respective Wall, said tent further having first and secondsubstantially vertical end walls angled toform a iirst triangular bay atone end of they tent, said rst and second end walls being joinedtogether along a line forming a corner of said rst bay, lsaid iirst andsecond end walls being joined to said first panels of said front andback walls along linesforming irstfront and'rear corners, third andfourth substantially vertical end walls angled to form a secondtriangular bay a-t the other end of the tent, said third and fourth endwalls being joined ,together along a line forming a corner of saidsecond bay,

said third and fourth end walls being joined to said second panels ofsaid front and back walls along lines forming second front and rearcorners, and a pyramidal roof comprising two 'inclined triangular panelscentered at the apex` of the roof and having outer margins coincidentwith the tops ofthe said central rectangular access sections of thefron-t and back walls, four inclined triangular panels also centered attheapex of the 4roof and having outer margins coincident with the angledtop margins of the said first and secondvertical panels of the front andback walls, and four inclined triangular panels also centered at theapex of the roof and having outer margins coincident with the ltopmargins of the said end walls.

v2. A center-pole tent as set forth in claim 1 wherein Ithe triangularroof panels are joined together by roof seams which radiate from theapex of the pyramidal roof to the ends of the top margins of the saidrst and second -vertical panels of the front and back walls and to theends of the top margins of the said vertical end walls, said triangularroof panels being joined to the front, back and end .walls` by outwardlydirected stitched seams, and wherein'fa loop for attachment of a guyrope is provided at the outer end of each of said roof seams, said loopsstraddling and being caught by the stitching of said out- Wardlydirected stitched seams.

References Cited in the ile of this patent f UNrrED STATES PATENTS A Y34,717 i Mar. 13,'.1362

